1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system which performs control so that an image forming apparatus prints print data obtained by issuing a request to a server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been a technique in which an image forming apparatus (for example, a printer) acquires data, such as a document, stored in an apparatus on a network by issuing a request to the apparatus in response to a user instruction, and prints the acquired data.
A conventional printing system is known to charge each department or each user in a company for the cost produced by using an image forming apparatus (for example, a printer). To share the cost impartially, such a printing system is required to check the total number of printed pages recorded for each predetermined period and to acquire tally information for each department or each user based on the unit price and the total number of printed pages.
However, generally, it is not rare for one user to perform printing for other users. There has been a problem that, in this case, the number of printed pages for a plurality of other users is counted as data of one user.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-91600 discusses a system in which a print requestor transmits print data and print product user data to an image forming apparatus via a print management apparatus to perform printing, and then the print management apparatus accumulates the print product user data and the number of printed pages as a print history. This system enables counting the number of printed pages for each print product user.
With the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-91600, the system only reflects print records to each print product user based on the history, and actual printing is performed by the print requestor. Therefore, when printing, the print requestor needs to inquire of each print product user whether printing is permitted and wait for the determination by the print product user, which requires additional time and effort and places a burden on the print requestor. Further, the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-91600 has a problem that print product users other than the print requestor cannot check the number of pages to be printed for their print products before printing.